Critics say the system sends out the wrong messageA system giving students extra marks if they have suffered personal trauma is being defended by an exams authority.

GCSE and A-level pupils in England are given 5% more if a parent dies close to exam day or 4% for a distant relative.

They get 2% more if a pet dies or 1% if they get a headache. Critics say the system panders to an "excuse for everything" attitude.

But the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) says taking such events into consideration is "nothing new".

The guidelines are set out by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which represents England's three main exam authorities, including the AQA.

'Nothing new'

AQA public affairs manager Claire Ellis said the system was an attempt to quantify the sorts of circumstances which would merit special consideration and ensure consistency across the various exam boards.

She said: "The number of extra marks available are actually rather small, and in most cases they do not change the final grade.

"However, they are a way of compensating a candidate who has been genuinely adversely affected by a situation beyond their control."

She added: "The applications will still go through the schools and colleges, who will be close to the candidates and have knowledge of their home circumstances.

"And a degree of proof will still be required. For example, in the case of illness, which makes up 85% of special consideration applications, a GP's letter may be required."

Type of trauma and % addedRecent death of parent or close relative - 5%Recent death of distant family member - 4%Witness to distressing event on day of exam - 3%Hay fever - 2%Death of family pet on day of exam - 2%Pet dies day before exam - 1%Headache - 1% (enphasis mine)

'Deal with it'

However, the scheme has not gone down well with pressure group Campaign for Real Education.

Chairman Nick Seaton said: "This panders to the growing attitude in society that there is an excuse for everything.

"Youngsters should realise that bad things happen in life and it is important to deal with them.

"Of course, there are circumstances when a pupil might be particularly distressed and a teacher can scribble a note on the exam paper, as happened in the past.

"But formalising and quantifying excuses in this way sends out the wrong message."

« Last Edit: May 09, 2005, 04:26:40 pm by Bono »

Logged

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed – and hence clamorous to be led to safety – by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." – H.L. Mencken

File this one under "stupid ideas that should never have seen the light of day".

My university gives concessions for traumatic experiences, like the death of a close relative, but it's not by giving you an arbitrary boost; they just let you take the exam on a later date. I personally think that that method is much better than this.

Critics say the system sends out the wrong messageA system giving students extra marks if they have suffered personal trauma is being defended by an exams authority.

GCSE and A-level pupils in England are given 5% more if a parent dies close to exam day or 4% for a distant relative.

They get 2% more if a pet dies or 1% if they get a headache. Critics say the system panders to an "excuse for everything" attitude.

But the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) says taking such events into consideration is "nothing new".

The guidelines are set out by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which represents England's three main exam authorities, including the AQA.

'Nothing new'

AQA public affairs manager Claire Ellis said the system was an attempt to quantify the sorts of circumstances which would merit special consideration and ensure consistency across the various exam boards.

She said: "The number of extra marks available are actually rather small, and in most cases they do not change the final grade.

"However, they are a way of compensating a candidate who has been genuinely adversely affected by a situation beyond their control."

She added: "The applications will still go through the schools and colleges, who will be close to the candidates and have knowledge of their home circumstances.

"And a degree of proof will still be required. For example, in the case of illness, which makes up 85% of special consideration applications, a GP's letter may be required."

Type of trauma and % addedRecent death of parent or close relative - 5%Recent death of distant family member - 4%Witness to distressing event on day of exam - 3%Hay fever - 2%Death of family pet on day of exam - 2%Pet dies day before exam - 1%Headache - 1% (enphasis mine)

'Deal with it'

However, the scheme has not gone down well with pressure group Campaign for Real Education.

Chairman Nick Seaton said: "This panders to the growing attitude in society that there is an excuse for everything.

"Youngsters should realise that bad things happen in life and it is important to deal with them.

"Of course, there are circumstances when a pupil might be particularly distressed and a teacher can scribble a note on the exam paper, as happened in the past.

"But formalising and quantifying excuses in this way sends out the wrong message."

you reading my email or what???! get out of there!

yeah, I had one of those just last week. gave my consolations, kept a straight face, told her to go home, get some rest, and come back to take the exam after she was finished brooding and mourning. Actually, a better one was the student whose boyfriend committed suicide about two weeks ago. I told her the same thing. She actually brought in a photocopy of the Clarion-Ledger obituary page to make sure I didn't think she was bluffing. Well, I suppose these things happen. I sure hope my profs in grad school didn't cut me any slack when my mother died a slow painful death from emphysema. I certainly wouldn't wish that death on anyone, not even my worst eneny, but I certainly want to think I earned every mark I got. I'm reasonably sure that I did.

I have to say it's not as bad as what the US Postal Service exam was doing in the 80s and 90s. If you were a female you got five points (out of 100) just for showing up. If you were black you got five. If you were a black female you got the full ten. Seriously, as foolish and unfair as that English school plan is, we would be hypocritical to laugh at them, given our own history with this sort of mockery.

This is actually kind of cold if you think about it. Only 5%? I'd rather have a delay. A headache is worth half a pet? A headache is worth a fifth a parent? A distant relative is worth 80% of a parent?

This is actually kind of cold if you think about it. Only 5%? I'd rather have a delay. A headache is worth half a pet? A headache is worth a fifth a parent? A distant relative is worth 80% of a parent?

I have to say it's not as bad as what the US Postal Service exam was doing in the 80s and 90s. If you were a female you got five points (out of 100) just for showing up. If you were black you got five. If you were a black female you got the full ten. Seriously, as foolish and unfair as that English school plan is, we would be hypocritical to laugh at them, given our own history with this sort of mockery.

Actually our own history is much more jam-packed with examples of the G.W. Bush method of getting good 'grades' - as in economic class and familial connections. It is hilarious to me that we mock some poor black woman for getting a free pass into some miserable mundane lower-middle class blue collar job, but not the fact that our entire economic and political elite automatically gets a free pass into power, luxury, and position.

I'll try to work in a line about white anglo-saxon protestant plutocrats from new england who like to wear cowboy hats always getting a free ride in ivy league universities into that song somehow. just for you.

I'll try to work in a line about white anglo-saxon protestant plutocrats from new england who like to wear cowboy hats always getting a free ride in ivy league universities into that song somehow. just for you.

Nothing so specific is necessary. The statement all rich get a free pass is a lot more true than all black women get a free pass.